by Ivy Cross
“Yes, we came down two to a pod… I have no idea where the others are, or if they’re even still alive.”
I move to Talia’s side. The pain and weariness in her eyes are hard for me to bear, especially when there is so little I can do to remove her burden. “I am sorry this has befallen you. When this matter with Regar is behind me, I will journey with you in search of your home—this Earth—if that is what you wish. It does not matter how far we must go to get you there.”
Talia smiles at my words and some of the pain, if not the weariness, seems to evaporate from her expression. “No, I think that might not be possible. But you’re sweet for wanting to try.”
I feel some shame at the happiness her words bring me. Despite my offer, I do not want her to return to her old home.
“How long do you think it will be before Regar gets back? I hate just waiting here helplessly while Bailey is out there likely being traded like a loaf of bread.”
“That is a sentiment we share,” I say. “Inaction is no friend of a warrior. But I do not think Regar will keep us long. One way or the other, things with the Calji will be decided quickly.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
“And we do not have to spend this time just twirling our spears. We can use it to restore our bodies and spirits for what is to come.”
“That’s probably smart,” Talia says, moving back from the fire. “I feel like death warmed over, and you don’t want to have to fight Regar half-dead from Haelar’s poison.”
I nod my agreement. “What would you say to a warm, healing bath and some time to rest?”
Her eyes nearly double in size. “If you’re joking…”
“It is no jest. I will fetch water from the well and heat it in the basin for you. Wait here.”
“I’m not going anywhere. A hot bath!” Talia’s laugh is full of lightness and mirth. “You have no idea how happy this makes me.”
The postures of most of the guards out front have changed dramatically since Gellis’s departure. Ib, Aena, and the two striplings huddle in a small circle pitching bone dice onto the bare dirt. As I emerge, Aena groans loudly at his poor throw.
But two of the guards are not taking their duties so lightly. They stand rigid in my path, their spears crossed like a gate before me. I am only vaguely familiar with them, as they are part of Gellis’s and Regar’s circle.
The one to my left is tall and bald with a bright red circle tattooed across his forehead. I believe him to be Axxa, one of Gellis’s bloodline, and the etched scowl carved into his features would seem to confirm that suspicion.
I am less familiar with the squat, burly figure to my right, but he does not look any more pleased to see me than Axxa does.
“Back inside, outsider,” the one called Axxa barks. He takes a step forward and his burly partner mirrors him exactly.
“I have come out only for bathwater,” I say. “After I fetch it—”
Axxa levels his spear at my chest. “Inside! I do not wish to see the likes of your filth out here among the true warriors.”
Anger floods into my chest, but I force my heart to slow. “I only need the water, then I will go back inside.”
Axxa juts his spear to my chest, pressing the cold point hard against my bare flesh. It bites in enough to draw blood, but I hold my position just the same. His hard eyes look past me.
“Is everything okay?” Talia’s voice floats out from the doorway behind me.
Axxa sneers. “Go back inside with your bitch. You will have little enough time together before Regar gets back and puts you both to the spear.”
The day’s frustration breaks loose like a dam inside me.
I grab Axxa’s spear and yank it and him to me. He lets out a startled yelp, but I cut it off in his throat with a quick headbutt. The crunch of his nose is almost as sweet as music.
His burley ally stands slack-jawed and useless until I grab his spear and wrench it from his grasp.
“Hey, I was only—” he begins.
I do not care to hear his words. I slam the blunt end of his own spear into his lower jaw, and his legs turn to jelly. He is unconscious before he hits the ground beside the unmoving form of Axxa.
It is over before the other guards have even raised from their game.
I pitch the two spears I took off Axxa and the other one to their feet before they can start toward me.
“I only came out for water,” I say, then turn and stride off toward the well.
Chapter 19 – Talia
“Do you think that was wise,” I ask. Steam rushes up from the large copper-like basin as Dekkar stokes the red coals underneath it.
“Wise? No. But it felt very fucking good.” He cocks a smile and the huge, brooding warrior is suddenly gone, replaced by one of those boyishly charming types my mama always told me to steer clear of.
“But won’t they come in here to punish you… or something?”
“Doubtful. If anyone should be punished, it is those two loutish guards. Had I been a real enemy, their stupidity would have cost the lives of all of the warriors out there… and likely more besides.”
He smiles again and any tension I was feeling starts to fade. “Besides, it was worth it. Our bath is almost ready.”
“Uh, our bath?” I don’t remember him mentioning this would be a communal experience.
“The basin is large enough for us both… You did not think you would be the only one to enjoy these healing waters, did you?”
I can’t tell if his raised eyebrows express genuine surprise, or if he’s just baiting me.
“Well, I thought maybe we’d take turns.”
Dekkar shrugs. “It seems strange to me, but if that is the way of the humans…” A smirk tilts the edge of his mouth. “But I go first, before the waters are used and have lost their heat.”
Dekkar grabs a small pouch from a ledge near the basin and sprinkles its contents into the tub. The water quickly takes on a murky blue color.
“What is that stuff?”
“The dried leaves of the lailae plant.”
“Uh, isn’t that the same stuff Haelar almost killed you with?”
Dekkar smiles and shakes his head. “It is only the lailae berries that are poisonous. The leaves are highly curative, and they will help us rest.”
He flicks a clasp at the side of his leathers, and they drop to the floor with a jangly clack. He just stands there in front of me for several seconds, clearly unabashed.
“You are sure you do not wish to reconsider? The water is at its best just after heating.”
I hesitate for a moment, caught in a limbo of trying to avert my eyes and being unable to look away from his incredible body and giant... muscles. “I—”
Dekkar doesn’t wait for my answer. He steps up over the rim of the basin and sinks into the water with a soft splash. The deep moan that comes out of him is almost orgasmic.
“I do not think you know what you are missing. There is plenty of room, and the heat will restore your strength.”
“Are you trying to get me naked?” I ask, genuinely unable to read him.
“Of course, it would make little sense for you to get into the bath fully clothed.” There’s a sparkle in his eyes, but I still can’t tell if he’s being serious or not.
“Fuck it.” I’m not going to wait to use his leftover, lukewarm bathwater. I think the time for bashfulness was probably over the moment I got taken aboard an alien slaver ship.
I slide my filthy, half-ruined slacks down first. The moment they crumple to the ground, I realize how much I’m glad to be rid of them. You wear the same thing day and night for something like two weeks straight and it starts to become a part of you. And not in a good way.
I rip my polo over my head, snap loose my bra, then stare down at the still red coals beneath the bath basin.
“I’m a little tempted to toss these rags in there and let them burn. Can’t say I’d ever want to put them on again.”
Dekk
ar’s reply is a deep growl that rivals the sound he made when he entered the bath. I look up to see his eyes poring over my body with enough intensity to almost make me take a step back.
“You were trying to get me naked,” I grin.
I let him have his eyeful, feeling every minute of these days of sweat and grime, then dip a toe into the basin. The heat marches up my leg like a thousand hot, massaging fingers. It’s painful in a pleasant way, and I can only hold out for a second or two before plopping into the water with much less finesse than Dekkar just did.
The heat of the water consumes me. I close my eyes for a moment, and in this moment, I can almost forget everything that’s happened to me. “Oh my god! I’m usually a shower only kind of girl, but I think this may be the best thing I have ever felt in my entire life.”
“See? Healing waters.” Dekkar’s voice is a deep, husky whisper, and I open my eyes to find him still staring at me intently.
“You are far different from Vanthae females,” he says after several more moments of study.
“In… a good way?” If he’s repulsed by what he sees, he’s the best damn actor on the planet.
“The differences are… pleasant,” he says slowly. “Your curves are unexpected and highly sensual. Not at all like the females with which I am familiar.”
He tears his eyes away from my breasts with obvious reluctance and meets my gaze. “Am I as different from the males of your people?”
I consider his question while peering back into his eyes. He’s definitely bigger than any human man I ever met. And not just taller or more muscular, but far broader too. Almost like an artist’s idealization of the most brutal form of man. There’s something off about his skin tone, too. Like it holds and refracts the light in some way.
Plus, there are the swirling ridges along his back and just peeking out at the tops of his shoulders near his neck. Those are different.
Just those superficial things taken together wouldn’t make him that different from human males. He would still be in the ballpark at least.
But there’s something intrinsically different about Dekkar—something that does make him wholly different. I just can’t put my finger on exactly what that is.
“Yes, you are,” I say at last.
Dekkar leans forward and whispers my own words back to me. “In a good way?”
“In a very good way.”
“Did you mean what you said when you told Gellis you accepted my claim on you?” Dekkar asks suddenly.
“What does it mean exactly,” I ask, ignoring the pleasant feeling of his hand on my leg for the time being. “If I really accept, you own me or something like that?”
“In a manner of speaking, but it works both ways—I am yours as much as you are mine.”
“And you would want that?” I realize I’m working my way through all of this as much as anything else. It’s a strange thing to fall to a planet and have an alien warrior claim you within a matter of a few days. Stranger still to start to understand that you might actually be okay with that… more than okay.
“Very much so, my goddess.” His hand inches up my leg, out of sight beneath the water.
“You know I’m not that.”
Dekkar rises slowly above me in the tub, the blue-tinged waters cascading down his glossy skin in torrents. “I know no such thing, goddess.” He leans closer until his face is only inches from mine. “If you say the words, in earnest this time, I will be yours forever. Nothing could ever change that.”
The sincerity radiates off him almost as much as the furnace-like heat that pours off his body.
“I want to,” I say finally.
“But you have doubts…” Dekkar’s disappointment is clear in his voice.
“Not about you.” And as strange as it sounds, it’s true. I don’t have any doubts about Dekkar or even my rapidly budding feelings for him. “I just don’t know what I’m getting myself into here. I don’t know what it would mean to be part of your tribe. I know so little about your people and your ways… I—”
Dekkar presses a wet finger gently to my lips. “I understand. You fear what life would be like for you here—that it would be so different from your own ways and the life you have known.”
“Yes, in part. I don’t want to agree to something and then not be what you expect me to be. We’ve already been through that once with the Naia thing. Now, I’m afraid you still might think I’m something that I’m not—I can pretty much guarantee I’m not like the Vanthae women in your village, and I doubt I will ever learn to be… Human women aren’t subservient homebodies that are only good for childrearing. I will want more out of—”
Dekkar rocks with laughter, cutting off the end of my speech.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“Have you seen the Vanthae women?” he asks, a grin still tugging at his lips.
“Well, yeah, a little when we were marched through the village. Why?”
“Did they look like they only spend their time raising the young?”
Images of the Vanthae women I saw earlier flit through my mind. They were all tall, slender, and muscular in a wiry kind of way. And they looked like any one of them could easily kick the ass of any MMA fighter back on Earth…
“I guess they didn’t…” I say.
“Vanthae warriors are not only male,” he says.
“I guess I just assumed. None of the guards were women.”
“It would have been a waste to post them as guards,” Dekkar explains. “Vanthae women are very fast. Faster than the men. They employ themselves as hunters and are unparalleled in their prowess.”
“Oh.”
Dekkar leans down and kisses me lightly on the forehead. “If you still have doubts, that is fine. I will wait. But know this, even bound to me you will be free to find your way in this village. That I promise you. And later, I will see if the guards will let us tour some of the village so that you might see with your own eyes what life here is like.”
His promise alone would have been enough.
A waterfall of bathwater drips from my arms as I wrap them around Dekkar and pull him down to eye level. “I accept. Or… I claim you back.”
Dekkar’s dark eyes bore into me with a smoldering intensity. “I will never make you regret that decision.”
Water rains down as he rises to stand above me. He reaches out a hand to help me up, but I can only stare back at him, slack-jawed. I feel a flush across my skin that has absolutely nothing to do with the warm bathwater.
“Dear god,” I say, then clamp my wet hands over my mouth. I’ve seen Dekkar naked on more than one occasion and helped myself to an eyeful of the full show, so to speak, each time. But now that he’s excited it’s a whole different kind of show—a huge, hard, and glistening kind of show.
Dekkar continues to hold his hand out to me, a smile narrowing his eyes.
He helps me up next to him. I shiver from the cool air on my wet skin, and I shiver again when I feel his hard cock press against the cool flesh of my belly. The sensation stokes a craving—a need—to feel him inside me.
Dekkar wraps his hands around the swell of my ass and pulls me tight against his steaming body. “We will seal the claiming in the village circle in front of everyone.”
“What!?”
The corners of his eyes crinkle as he stares down at me.
“Oh, very funny…”
Without warning, Dekkar hauls me up out of the water and steps out of the basin. The water from our bodies streams down onto the woven mats below, making a sound like rain on the side of a canvas tent.
He carries me to a bedroom of sorts in the back of the hut and drops me gently onto a large cot. The mattress is like a huge stuffed pillow, and it’s surprisingly soft.
“There will be no witnesses to our mating,” Dekkar purrs, straddling his legs around me. “That beautiful body of yours is for my eyes only now, and I will kill any man who dares look upon you.”
“I don’t know if I’d go
that far…”
Dekkar lowers himself down on me, and his warm lips find my neck.
My mind blanks with pleasure, as he tastes every inch of the sensitive skin from my shoulder to the curve of my jaw, finally working his way up to my lips.
I moan into his mouth, and he kisses me harder and deeper, his sweet tongue caressing mine in an intricate and feverish dance.
Dekkar slides down to my breasts and plays his warm tongue against one of my nipples. I arch my back and let out a low moan as his teeth brush against the sensitive flesh there. He matches the sound, making a low rumble deep in his chest.
“I claim you, Talia.” His voice is like distant thunder, full of emotion and need. But I can still hear the formality in his words—the ritual.
“I claim you, Dekkar,” I whisper back.
I can see a depth of complex emotion flit through his dark eyes. And then it’s all gone, replaced with only burning desire. I can read it so clearly because it has to be a mirror of the need in my own eyes.
Dekkar’s large hand slides between us and down to my pussy. I gasp sharply as his fingers explore my wet folds. His touch is tentative and hesitant at first like he’s afraid he might break something, but in seconds he seems to be able to sense what I want, reading my gasps and gliding his fingers down over my yearning clit.
I moan and rock against him as his fingers brush against my clit again. Dekkar growls back, sliding his hand against me with a quick rhythm that sends waves of bright pleasure coursing deep inside me.
My entire body clenches. I wrap my arms across his upper back and dig my fingernails into the tough, swirling ridges there. Too late, I realize this might be a sensitive place on his body, but if it bothers him, he doesn’t let on.
Dekkar locks his eyes onto mine, then pushes me and keeps pushing until he has me over the edge and I come apart beneath his touch.
I scream and my body bucks against him out of my control. He slides up and kisses me deeply like he wants to taste some of the pleasure that racks my body.
Even before the world comes back into focus, the desire to have him inside me is more than I can stand. I need to feel him inside me—need to know him that way.